USDA NAMES MEMBERS TO NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2007 -U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has named members to the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI).

The NACMPI was established in 1971 to the provide advice and recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture on meat and poultry inspection programs. Membership is drawn from a broad range of groups interested in food safety including consumers, producers, processors, exporters and importers of meat and poultry products, as well as those in academia, public health, and federal and state government.

The members are selected to serve a two-year term. The committee generally meets twice a year and addresses food safety and policy issues of concern to the USDA.

A complete list of the nominees is attached. Members will be confirmed upon their acceptance of appointment to the NACMPI.

NOTE: Access news releases and other information at FSIS' Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov

Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PST RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES -- CLASS II___________________________________PRODUCTBulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling’s 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried, Recall # V-024-2007CODECattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURERPfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007. Firm initiated recall is ongoing.REASONBlood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was cross-contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE42,090 lbs. DISTRIBUTIONWI

THE USDA JUNE 2004 ENHANCED BSE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM WAS TERRIBLY FLAWED ;

CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlierthis week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk tothem, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latestcase indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for atleast a decade.

The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDAofficials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.

These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present apicture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it isthought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed theyconsume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal,incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminatedwith the mad cow pathogen.

"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence ofother undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of theNational Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous SystemStudies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United PressInternational. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answerthat."

Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cowcases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in theUnited States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests beforeone year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cowthat initially tested positive.

USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected sevenmonths later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.

"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end

"Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA handling of the mad cowissue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and others sent lengthydetailed critiques and recommendations to both the USDA and the CanadianFood Agency."